


Touches

by cardandkieran



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Angst, F/M, Guilt Cardan, Heartbroken Jude, twk spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 02:12:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardandkieran/pseuds/cardandkieran
Summary: ****TWK SPOILERS HERE****a little moment of Cardan and Jude after she comes back to Elfhame





	Touches

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys, me again!! so, i decided to write this little piece of scene i had in my mind. i didn't feel like it could be a huge chapter so i just wrote it the way i've been imagining. hope you like it!!

"So, your first public appearance as queen. Nervous?”

Cardan looked at her with arched eyebrows, a curious look on his face. He, as always, held a glass of faerie wine in one hand, leaning against the wall facing her dressing table.

Jude looked at him quickly, not trusting herself to pay much attention to him at that moment. Cardan wore his colorful clothes and countless jewels, as always. His ears shone from the sheer number of earrings, and his fingers had rings that gleamed. The black eyeliner in his eyes seemed darker and thicker that day. Deadly.

She looked at herself again in the mirror, feeling ordinary. Cardan had given her jewelry: chain earrings that reached her shoulders. Gemstone necklaces, pearl bracelets... But she did not feel comfortable using it all. This was not her.

Instead of extravagance, Jude had insisted on wearing a simple dress, red and gold. Nothing to highlight her curves, no necklines. She would call attention to the title she was carrying already, she did not want more. Her hair was stuck as ever in the shape of horns and she wore no ornament other than the ring Cardan had given her when the wed. 

“Jude?” he called, tilting his head to look into her eyes.

Jude took her eyes from the mirror and stared at him, catching Cardan's worried gaze. She had been distracted for days, since she had been informed of the public appearance. Jude was terrified of being humiliated again in front of all her subjects.

"I'm not nervous, just... Anxious, maybe”. 

Cardan unclenched himself from the wall and walked a few steps to the dressing table, taking a pot with the black liquid that painted his eyes. He opened it and picked up one of the feathers, wetting the tip and bending over to grasp one of Jude's shoulders. She shrugged involuntarily.

Jude hated only imagining him touching her. For all those weeks after his return he had not gotten close enough to her, he had not dared. And so she did not realize that her reaction would be so explicit.

She was terrified to think of Cardan touching her again, even if it was something simple, like a hand on her shoulder. Jude cringed because his touch reminded her of how he touched her in the past, of how she gave him everything: her virginity, her trust, and even her heart. And Cardan had betrayed her.

He could not touch her again and make Jude remember that dark past. Cardan had no such right.

He seemed too shocked by her reaction to do anything. Cardan stood for a few seconds, then pushed away, returning the makeup pot to Jude's desk.

"Did I hurt you so much that you cannot bear me touching you?"

Jude did not answer. She could barely look at the guilt on Cardan's face. She was afraid that if she spoke he would end up apologizing. She did not want excuses, did not want him to give her a reason why her revenge would not happen.

Jude rose from her chair and walked to the door, her back to him.

"Come on, Cardan. We have a court to entertain”. 

Cardan stared at her back for a few more seconds before drinking the rest of the wine.This time he stayed away.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to give me any ideas of little scenes like this, either fluffy or angst, and i may write it.
> 
> sorry if there's anything wrong, english is not my first language.


End file.
